A Californian schoolgirl has found a clever way to overcome a language barrier and befriend a new student at her school, by using Google Translate to prepare a letter of friendship to a boy from Mexico.

Ten-year-old Amanda Moore said she was inspired to write the letter after she saw classmate Rafael struggling to make friends with other students, local broadcaster KABC reports.

With the help of her smartphone and Google Translate — a free online translation service — Amanda penned a letter in Spanish that invited the boy to sit beside her in class.

"Look for me and I will show you where I sit,” the letter said.

"We can color or simply tell scary stories. Thank you for your time, signed Amanda."

Amanda’s mother Kimber Kinard posted a video of her daughter reading the letter aloud to her personal Facebook page.

The video has since been shared on the Love What Matters page, where it has been viewed more than 300,000 times.